The Yule Ball Missing Moment
by Ickle-Ronnikens
Summary: Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley struggle to find dates for the highly anticipated Yule Ball on Christmas night. Please review...
1. Chapter 1

The Yule Ball Missing Moment

Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does, bless her.

Summary - Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley struggle to find dates for the highly anticipated Yule Ball on Christmas night.

01

'Miss Weasley, are you paying attention?'

'Huh?'

Ginny looked up hazily from her notes to find that Professor Flitwick was addressing her, whilst the rest of the class were turned in their seats to stare at her; annoyingly, a couple of Hufflepuff's up the front were smirking at her in amusement. It was Friday afternoon, in her defence, and despite the fact that it was the middle of a theory class, her mind was completely elsewhere.

It would be Christmas holidays soon, and the Yule Ball was due to be held Christmas night, as it was tradition for it to be held between the first and second tasks of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Ginny desperately wanted to go, but as she was both in her third year and as yet without a partner, she would not be allowed to go, unless accompanied by someone that was allowed.

She had foolishly let herself hope that Harry Potter (one of the Champions mind you) would, out of the blue, ask her to go with him; being asked out by him had been a dream of hers since he had first come into her life, but after it had been announced earlier in the term that there would be the Yule Ball, her dreams had become far more reoccurring.

But as Harry was so busy chasing his own dream, in the form of Cho Chang, she felt that her dream would inevitably go unfulfilled.

Although she was not yet ready to give up on him - last time she had heard from Hermione, Harry was yet to have a date - she was beginning to think though that she would have to bite her pride, and actually be the one to ask someone if she really wanted to go to this exclusive event.

However, she could never EVER pluck up the courage to ask Harry, it would be the end of her.

'I said, are you paying attention?' Professor Flitwick squeaked again.

'Yes, Professor,' Ginny replied.

'Then you will have no problem repeating what I just said,' he asked her.

'Err...' Ginny hesitated and looked down at her parchment, which was no help at all, for she had covered it entirely with scribbles of snitches, broomsticks, and names of boys of whom she might consider asking to go to the Yule Ball with her.

And Harry Potter's initials were everywhere too.

She looked back up at a restless Professor Flitwick, and an entire class in search of an answer (her fellow Gryffindor's looked as though they were preparing themselves for a loss of points) when Ginny remembered they were covering Cheering Charms.

'Well,' Ginny said, attempting to pull some words out thin air, 'you just started talking about the effects of Cheering Charms, and that we really have to concentrate when performing them.'

Professor Flitwick had a mixed look of being impressed, whilst seemingly frustrated at the same time.

'Good,' he said with a little nod, 'and then...?'

'And you said it's also important to note that when the spell is underdone, it will have no effect on the subject,' Ginny said carefully, raising her eyebrows slightly, 'and when overdone, it can cause the subject to be overcome with fits of hysterical laughter. And that is has also been known to be incurable.'

The class turned back to Professor Flitwick, who seemed to blink wordlessly as he tried to think up what to say to that.

'Well, indeed, you're right, Miss Weasley,' Professor Flitwick said, 'those are the effects you can encounter if you do not concentrate properly, and I definitely did say that - however, that was some time ago now, as we have all well and truly moved on to the effects of the Freezing Charm. So clearly, you have not been concentrating.'

Ginny felt her stomach drop.

'I-'

'Having said that,' Flitwick said, cutting her off, 'I will let you off with a warning, Miss Weasley, simply due to the fact that I do not wish to deduct points from Gryffindor, when you are the only ones most likely to win the House Cup over Slytherin again this year.'

There were murmurs of agreement throughout the classroom, several of the Hufflepuff's were nodding, and all of the Gryffindor's were expressing a sigh of relief.

'Thanks?' Ginny said questionably.

She didn't particularly care about the House Cup right now, her mind was still thinking of people she might ask to the Yule Ball - but simply to keep her fellow Gryffindor's happy, she put as much of it as she could into the back of her mind until the end of class.

* * *

When she entered the Gryffindor common room that evening, Ginny's mind was well and truly re-immersed in the problem of not yet having a partner for the Yule Ball. She had aimlessly wandered the hallways of Hogwarts for a couple of hours, picturing herself on Harry Potter's arm, entering the Great Hall along with the other Champions.

Once she had brought herself out of her reverie, she had then contemplated the candidates with whom she might have to end up going with, when it became a reality that Harry won't be taking her.

She was just about to go up to her dormitory and write up a flow-chart with ideas on how she might manage to wrangle Harry's attention, when she spotted Hermione sitting over by the fireplace on her own and immersed in a book. Ginny did a quick look around the common room, and noticed that neither Harry nor her brother Ron were anywhere to be seen, and as Quidditch had been cancelled because of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, she had no idea where they could be.

Ginny liked to think that she stopped and headed over to Hermione as her friend, to give her some company and talk about the things they usually talked about, like homework and how their week had gone. But in reality, she went over fully intending to find out EXACTLY where Harry Potter was, whether Hermione knew if he had a date for the Yule Ball yet, and if she'd managed to slip the idea into his head that Ginny was available.

'Hi,' Ginny said sweetly, sitting in one of the other chairs by the fireplace.

Hermione looked up over her book on Giant Wars and spotted Ginny, before closing her book and sitting a little upright.

'Oh hi,' she said nervously, turning slightly pink at Ginny's sudden appearance, 'how are you?'

'I'm fine, and you?' Ginny said, completely missing Hermione's obscure embarrassment.

'Oh I'm, fine,' Hermione hesitated with a shrug that Ginny didn't see either, her eyes kept flashing toward the portrait hole for some reason.

'How's your day been?' Ginny asked curiously, now glancing at Hermione.

'Average,' Hermione said, nodding, biting her lip, 'nothing special happened at all, very normal for me, you know?'

Ginny eyed her suspiciously.

'Is everything alright, Hermione?' Ginny asked her.

'Fine, everything's fine,' Hermione said sharply and nervously, 'so how was your day?'

Ginny raised an eyebrow. 'Same,' she said with a nod, 'just average.'

Hermione nodded and Ginny turned to look back at the portrait hole.

'Do you know where Harry and Ron are?' she asked, scanning the room again in case she'd missed them.

'No idea,' Hermione replied curtly, 'been in library all free period, they had Divination I think, and I came straight back here after Viktor- errr, I mean-'

Hermione hesitated again, causing Ginny to look curiously around at her.

'What was that?' Ginny questioned her, staring at her friend intently, who was turning red again, 'Viktor?'

'Who?' Hermione asked awkwardly, 'I don't know any Viktor-'

'Are you talking about Viktor Krum?' Ginny demanded. 'Has he been hanging around the library again?'

'Yes! That's it!' Hermione practically shouted, making Ginny jump, 'he came- err, showed up and started browsing through the line of bookcases again, and he caused a group of giggling girls to follow in after him. So I left.'

Ginny stared for the longest time at her friend, attempting to figure out whether she was full of it or not. Eventually she decided that Hermione's answer was good enough, and returned her focus on the portrait hole, which seemed to be coughing up every single other Gryffindor except for Harry and Ron.

'So I meant to ask you-' Ginny started, fully intending on bringing up Harry again, when Hermione flat out interrupted her.

'OK OK, Victor Krum asked me to go to the Yule Ball!' Hermione spat at Ginny.

Ginny turned to look at Hermione so fast that a worrying clicking noise reverberated from somewhere around her neck. She stared at her friend, wide-eyed and in disbelief for several silent and nervous moments.

'He asked... you?' Ginny hissed, barely believing it as Hermione put a finger up to her mouth to quieten her.

They both looked around - there were a few students hanging around the staircase nearby, but they were in their own conversations and appeared not to have heard anything. The rest of the students were practically on the other side of the common room, safely out of earshot.

'Krum?' Ginny repeated, once they'd deemed it safe to talk.

Hermione bit her lip and nodded her head. Ginny bit her lip too, but only in an attempt to stop from laughing out loud.

'Are you serious?' Ginny hissed at her, still in disbelief.

'Very serious,' Hermione assured her - she was a little red in the face still, but she felt a whole lot better now that she had managed to get this piece of news out of her system.

'But... how? Why? You?' Ginny stopped herself and put up a hand apologetically, before taking a breath and rephrasing the question. 'What did you say?'

Hermione hesitated and looked around for potential eavesdroppers once more just in case.

'He told me that he had been coming to the library, not for the books,' Hermione explained to her, 'but to build up the courage to talk to me.'

'You're kidding?' Ginny was speechless.

'And, well, once he'd managed to get that out, the rest just seemed to come - he asked me to the ball and...' Hermione hesitated again, looking around nervously before finally smiling, 'and I said yes!'

Ginny stared at her. She also could not help but let a little smile appear on her face before she said, 'that's great, Hermione, I'm glad you did say yes.'

'Thank you,' Hermione said, still blushing.

'Well, you wouldn't want to wait around for my stupid brother to ask you last minute, would you?' Ginny asked her with a wink, and rather than agreement, Hermione looked around nervously again.

'Please don't tell him,' she begged, and Ginny figured she meant Ron, 'and please don't tell Harry... or anyone! Please.'

'It's OK Hermione, I won't tell anyone,' Ginny assured her, 'I think it's pretty certain I won't tell Harry. But, don't worry, it will stay between us.'

'Thank you,' Hermione said, beginning to breath normally again.

After a moment's pause in which the two girls appreciated each other's friendship, Hermione suddenly looked at Ginny in a worried fashion.

'And what about you?' Hermione asked importantly, 'are you going to let yourself be a pity date for someone last minute, or are you going to try and get what you want?'

Ginny sighed.

'I don't know,' she said sadly, 'do you know if Harry has a date yet?'

'Not as far as I know,' Hermione told her, 'why don't you just ask him?'

'No way,' Ginny spat at her, 'he'll say no.'

'You don't know that for sure!' Hermione told her firmly.

'Couldn't you... you know...?' Ginny hinted, but Hermione shook her head.

'I've told you I'm not playing matchmaker,' Hermione said, 'we agreed, no match making.'

'But you have a date now,' Ginny pointed out, 'please, I'm getting desperate.'

'Then ask,' Hermione said through gritted teeth, nodding toward the portrait hole.

Ginny suddenly turned around to look, and sure enough, Harry and Ron were crawling through the portrait hole looking collectively grim. She hesitated, but realised too late that any sudden movements toward the girls staircase would be seen by them, so she turned back to look at Hermione with alarm in her eyes, and scarlet in her cheeks.

Hermione disappeared behind her book as they approached, meaning the two of them trailed their eyes over a red-in-the-face Ginny, attempting to look cool, and an anti-social Hermione, attempting to be oblivious.

'Hi Ginny,' Harry said pointedly, making Ginny laugh nervously.

'Hi,' she said expectantly, smiling from ear to ear.

Ron ignored his sister completely and sat in the armchair that was closer to Hermione - much to Ginny's dismay, Harry followed, and the two of them began a conversation, almost literally with their backs to her. Ginny scowled and, making sure Harry and Ron didn't see her, she kicked Hermione's shin to get her attention.

Hermione peered angrily over her book at her, before assessing the situation and sighing deeply to herself. She snapped her book shut sharply, making both Harry and Ron jump, before placing it on her lap and smiling up at them both.

'So,' she said sweetly, 'did either of you two manage to get a date for the dance yet?'

Both boys shook their heads.

'You mean you didn't ask Cho yet, Harry?' Hermione questioned him.

'Err, no, not as yet,' Harry admitted

'Shame,' Hermione said, glancing at Ginny who smiled and gave her the thumbs up, 'and you're just waiting for the right moment to ask Fleur Delacour, aren't you Ron?'

'I'm don't want to ask Fleur,' Ron snarled at her.

'Oh of course not,' Hermione waved an airy hand of acknowledgement, 'but you have it all planned out, don't you? Who you're going with, I mean?'

Ron blinked at her. 'Maybe.'

'Why are you suddenly interested in whether we have dates or not, Hermione?' Harry asked her curiously, making her raise her eyebrows.

'Oh no reason,' Hermione shrugged, 'just that, it's topical I guess. It's fast approaching, you know, and I heard a few boys in our year already have dates.'

Harry and Ron were both busy looking worried at each other to notice Ginny get up, pat Hermione on her shoulder in thanks for helping her get the information, before she disappeared up the spiral staircase to the girls dormitory.

She suddenly had an abundant of ideas for her flow-chart to get Harry's attention.


	2. Chapter 2

02

Neville Longbottom was one hundred and fifty percent sure that he would be the last male in the school to land a date to the Yule Ball being held over Christmas. At least, the last of the males in which were eligible to attend the event - he almost wished he was a year younger, simply so he could miss the event without being the subject of ridicule by every single student in the castle. He felt as though no matter who he went with, both he and the poor soul that got stuck with him, would be on the receiving end of some form of ridicule regardless.

'I hate being me,' he told the portrait of the Fat Lady, the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, instead of the password.

'I'm sorry to hear that, dear,' the Fat Lady said compassionately, 'but I'm afraid, that is not the password.'

'Oh, yeah,' Neville said sulkily, looking up at the portrait and shifting his feet nervously, 'Balderdash.'

'Try to cheer up, dear, it's almost Christmas,' the Fat Lady managed to say as she opened up to allow him to crawl in.

Indeed it was almost Christmas - although the school as a whole had not yet received the usual make-over of tinsel, the Gryffindor common room had already been lightly decorated by some of the inhabited students. There were a few streams of tinsel pinned up here and there, red and gold colours of course - and a single tree by the fireplace in which had been covered in tinsel also, as well as baubles and candy canes.

Fred and George Weasley had also scattered a few features of their own throughout the room in which was their attempt at marketing Weasley Wizard Wheeze material: they had created their own mistletoe, which would permanently follow someone around the room, and even the castle, until someone hexed them (Neville had already had that happen to him twice).

And then there were the newly invented Canary Creams, which caused the victim to suddenly burst into features - this item the twins were exposing to people slowly, in order to get as many people to fall for it as they could.

'Hey there, Neville,' Fred said, suddenly approaching him, smiling broadly and his hands were hidden behind his back, 'alright?'

'Fine, thanks,' Neville replied shyly, looking him over.

'You want this?' Fred asked, holding out a pumpkin pastry. 'I already had one but, I'm not hungry anymore... you can have it.'

'I just ate dinner,' Neville told him, eyeing the pastry wearily.

He had already turned into features twice, such was the easy target he was, he had spent all of dinner cutting into every single thing he had on his plate before he ate it, in case the twins had stuck one of their inventions inside of it.

'Can't trick you, can I?' Fred winked, waving the pastry around. 'Oh well, next time... oi! You lot!'

Fred leapt away toward a group of stricken faced first-years, and Neville was thankful he could cross the room and make his way up to his dormitory in peace. When he got there, he found Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan each sitting on the ends of their beds, looking very animated and talking happily to one another. They looked around when he stepped over the threshold, and as was the case by nearly every other person in the school, stopped when they saw who it was.

'Sorry,' Neville said apologetically, heading over to his four-poster, 'don't mind me, I won't listen in, I promise... I just have to get-'

'Don't sweat it, Neville,' Dean said with his usual laid back tone, 'we were just discussing our dates.'

Neville looked up at them, and back and forth between their grinning faces.

'For the Yule Ball?' Neville questioned them, 'you both have dates already?'

'You bet,' Seamus said with a smug grin.

'Who?' Neville asked desperately.

'Lavender,' Seamus said, pointing to himself.

Neville's eyebrows disappeared into his hair. 'Really?'

'Had to get in early, didn't I?' Seamus explained to him, 'or else all the good ones get taken.'

Neville looked at Dean. 'And who did you ask?'

'Hannah,' Dean told him with a smile whilst nodding.

'Who?' Neville asked curiously, looking confused.

'You know Hannah Abbott,' Dean told him, smiling, 'she's in Hufflepuff, our year, remember?'

'Oh, right,' Neville nodded, 'cool. You're both so lucky, I could never pluck up the courage-'

'It's not that hard,' Seamus said to him, patting him on the back, 'you'll get there. Who were you looking at askin'?'

'Well, no one in particular,' Neville said truthfully, 'I thought I might just not go.'

Both Dean and Seamus seemed to look at each other in disbelief.

'Are you joking?' Seamus asked, 'how could you possibly not go?'

'You have to go,' Dean told him.

'There are students in years below us who would willingly face you-know-who to be able to go to the Yule Ball!' Seamus said in a blaze of fury, 'you must be mental to not want to go.'

'Well, it's just, the dancing, I can't-'

'Hey wait a minute, there's an idea,' Dean said, pointing at Seamus and ignoring Neville's helpless words, 'ask someone from below our year level! Some of them will be looking for a date, simply so they can attend. They won't care who it is.'

'That's perfect!' Seamus exclaimed, putting his hand up to high-five Dean.

'Oh great,' Neville said sourly, 'so then I would effectively become a pity date for someone?'

Neither Seamus nor Dean decided to answer that - instead, they sat back down on their four-posters and looked awkwardly at one another.

'It was just an idea, mate,' Dean explained, with a shrug, 'I just hope you get a date, I really do.'

* * *

Potion class was just about on par as far as Neville's performance was concerned several days later - it was pretty ironic that his cauldron was making noises that symbolised how he was feeling leading up to Christmas, but the irony was lost in the fact that this was now the third concoction in a row he had managed to bollocks up in the matter of a fortnight.

'You are USELESS, Longbottom,' Professor Snape yelled at him after he had arrived at their table to inspect how they were progressinh, 'why do you even both showing up to my classes anymore?'

Neville whimpered. 'I'm sorry, Professor.'

'And don't you try and help him,' Snape spat at Hermione, who was stationed beside him, 'or you can expect there to be more points deducted from Gryffindor.'

'More?' Seamus asked curiously from one table over.

'Yes, Mr Finnegan, more,' Snape barked, 'this monstrosity certainly deserves no less than fifty to be taken off. Your classmates should consider themselves lucky that I'm feeling lenient today, Longbottom.'

'Fifty is lenient?' Ron muttered furiously under his breath to their table (he and Harry were opposite Neville and Hermione).

'A hundred is what he gives me on lenient days,' Harry chimed in also, having scowled the entire way through Snape's lecture, 'forget him Neville, no one cares about a stupid House Cup anyway.'

He tried to let these words cheer him up, but there was no denying the fact that he sucked badly at Potions - and this point was only heightened when Hermione started whispering instructions in his ear in order to get him back on track, and without raising suspicion. It was inevitable, though, that by the end of class, when Snape went along peering into their work for one last time, that he found Neville's miraculously fixed, and blamed Hermione.

'Thanks for helping me,' Neville said once Snape had swept away.

'You're welcome Neville,' Hermione said brightly, and she put a comforting hand on his shoulder, 'don't let him get to you, alright?'

Neville forgot to smile but nodded, his eyes cast towards his shoulder where her hand had been, a sense of warmth had overcome him. He watched her carefully as she pack away her things silently, as she pushed her hair out of her eyes and behind her ears, and as she threw her bag over her shoulder and followed Harry and Ron out of the classroom.

Before he figured out that almost half the class had gone, Professor Snape was yelling at him again.

'Class is OVER, Longbottom,' Snape snapped at him from his desk, 'please get out of my sight, now!'

'Oh-' Neville blinked and suddenly began throwing his belongings into his bag, 'right, Professor, sorry Professor...'

Neville shuffled from the classroom and, with a sudden idea rushing into his head, he raced along the narrow hallways of the dungeons and up into the Entrance Hall, where he happen to spot bushy hair surrounded by messy black and burning red.

'Hermione! Hey, Hermione!'

He bolted towards the staircase where Harry, Ron and Hermione stood on the bottom step, all watching him approach.

'Yes, Neville?' Hermione asked curiously, her eyebrow slightly raised.

Neville regained his breath and prepared himself for what he wanted to say.

'I was wondering if you would- err,' he caught himself before he asked her, with her two best friends standing right there, and who would no doubt ridicule him for asking.

He therefore decided to rephrase what he was about to say.

'I meant, could you help me with that Potion?' Neville asked, 'explain it to me, and everything, so I can do it right next time?'

'Right now?' Ron asked in bewilderment.

'We have Charms class next though,' Harry declared, pointing up the staircase.

'I'll be glad to help you, Neville,' Hermione said sweetly, ignoring her two friends, 'tonight, in the common room, you can sit with us and-'

'No,' Neville said firmly, causing all three of them to raise their eyebrows in surprise, 'I mean, could you maybe talk to me for a minute or two right now? Privately? I want to get my head around it... you two can go to class and we'll catch up,' he said finally to Harry and Ron.

Neither Harry nor Ron seemed suspicious at all that Neville would be harbouring Hermione for anything other than tutoring purposes, and so they both shrugged, turned and ascended the staircase. Hermione smiled at him expectantly and joined him at the bottom of the stairs - Neville waited until he could no longer see Harry or Ron, before taking her hand and leading her out into the snowy grounds.

'Neville, where are we-?'

'Hermione,' Neville said, cutting her off and making her blink, 'you have always been really nice to me, especially when other's have not, and I really appreciate that-'

'Well of course-' Hermione started to say, but Neville interrupted her again.

'And every time I screw up in class, you're usually the one to come along and help fix it,' Neville went on, a huge smile spread across his face, 'I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out, but I feel like I just have to ask you, before I do something stupid and-'

Neville stopped, having looked over Hermione's shoulder, he raced past her towards the Greenhouse that was the closest to them and picked a particularly attractive flower from the window. He raced back to her, presented it to her with a gracious smile and took a deep breath.

'Hermione,' he said, 'will you go to the ball with me?'

Hermione blinked at him and suddenly turned a light shade of scarlet.

'Oh,' she said faintly, causing Neville's stomach to drop.

'Oh?' Neville queried.

'I'm so sorry, Neville,' she said honestly, 'but someone already asked me.'

'Oh,' Neville said with a nod.

'I'm so sorry,' Hermione repeated, feeling terrible.

'It's OK,' Neville said, he was still holding the flower in his hand, 'it makes sense, that you- of course, you would, you're- OK.'

Neville was turning very white, and Hermione suddenly felt very, very bad.

'Thank you,' she whispered, taking the flower, 'I'm sorry, Neville, I really am.'

'It's fine,' Neville said calmly, but he still had not moved.

'We should be getting to class,' Hermione told him, and Neville nodded.

'Right,' he said, finally moving.

'Sorry, again,' Hermione said to him as he lead them back up toward the castle, 'and thanks, for the flower.'

'No worries,' Neville said shamefully, and as he went to enter the castle, a solid object was exiting.

'Sorry,' Neville apologised, rubbing his forehead and looking up at the large frame of Viktor Krum, who was evidently returning to his ship, 'oh-'

He spotted Hermione, who stood rigid to the spot and looking panic-stricken, with the pretty flower that Neville gave her in her hand, and he looked back down at Neville, who was completely white.

'Vos my fault,' Krum said, inclining his head, before sweeping past them both and heading to the Durmstrang ship.


	3. Chapter 3

03

The weeks that lead up to the end of term seemed to take forever, Ginny was constantly frustrated both with the ever-lasting pile of homework, and the fact the she still did not yet have a date for the Yule Ball. She had spent the majority of her energy memorizing Harry Potter's timetable, so that she could cross paths with him in between classes, in the hope that she became a constant in the front of his mind when he was thinking up who to ask to the ball.

It was a good idea in theory, but in practice, Harry would scarcely look at Ginny when she walked past him in the corridor, let alone keep a look out for her, and most of the time he was looking completely in the other direction anyway. Eventually she decided her time was being wasted, for her detours had meant that more often than not she would show up to her own class late, and she would get in trouble.

The other few things that she tried to get his attention, was to sit next to him as often as possible at meal times, but because she was still far too shy to participate in their conversations, Harry barely looked at her whilst he talked to Ron and Hermione. She also tried to stay in clear view of him at night in the Gryffindor common room, waiting until he took his seat before she would take one in clear line of sight of his and wait to catch his eye.

This failed also, however, and she doubted he would notice her, even if she sat on the table in which he had his homework laid out on. Eventually it got to the point where she started to feel too much like his creepy ex-girlfriend who spent all her time stalking him and so she had to stop. Finally she admitted to herself that it was unlikely that Harry would ever ask her, and because she sure as hell didn't have the guts to ask him herself, decided she needed to broaden her horizons.

Her first choices were Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, both of whom had always been very nice to her and both of whom she was very comfortable in approaching and having a perfectly normal conversation with. She decided to talk to them Tuesday morning, where she found them hanging out on the Stone Bridge before their History of Magic lesson; having memorized Harry's timetable meant she knew where they would be, and so despite going there on purpose, she acted as though she was merely on her way to her own class.

'Hi guys,' she said sweetly as they looked up to see her approaching, 'what class do you have this morning?'

'History of Magic,' Seamus said grimly, shrugging, 'a whole morning on Giant Wars, can't wait.'

'Wish we had Charms now,' Dean said to Seamus, who nodded in agreement, 'he's let us play games in his last class on Friday, and I reckon he'll let us again tomorrow morning.'

'I have Charms on Friday too,' Ginny said nodding in agreement, 'only a couple of more days left now, then Christmas break.'

They both nodded and the Dean looked at her intently.

'Are you going to the Yule Ball, Ginny?' he asked her, and Ginny attempted to hold back a grin - that was precisely the question she was hoping they would ask.

'I might be,' she said, nodding.

'I reckon you'd look good in Dress Robes,' Seamus said with a snigger, whilst Dean threw him a look.

'Err... thanks,' Ginny felt her cheeks turn a little scarlet.

'Ignore him,' Dean pleaded with her, but Ginny merely smiled - she had already got over it.

'You two are going then I take it?' Ginny asked them, and they nodded, 'who are your dates?'

'I'm going with Lavender,' Seamus said very loudly and with a wink, a few passer-by Ravenclaw's stared at him.

'Yes we know,' Dean said firmly at him, 'I'm surprised Ginny didn't already know, they way you've been announcing it. I'm going with Hannah Abbott, whose a Hufflepuff in our year - tall, blonde hair, you know her?'

'I think so,' Ginny nodded, forcing out a smile, but really she was hoping one of them were still unattached.

'Hey, you've got someone to go with, right?' Dean asked her curiously.

'Oh of course,' Ginny waved away the question like it was silly to ask, 'don't worry about me. Anyway, you two have a good sleep in History of Magic. I have Care of Magical Creatures, and us Gryffindor's have been forced to share a class with the Blast Ended Skrewts, whilst we try to tackle some Slytherins.'

She winked and they both said goodbye before returning to their previous conversation. Ginny felt a little flat about Dean and Seamus, but she had to have figured with the Yule Ball so close at this stage, there was never going to be very many choices.

* * *

'I'm sorry, I might have misheard you there,' Ginny said to Hermione, 'but it sounded like you said-'

'Neville asked me, yes,' Hermione told her, after rechecking their surroundings and making sure they weren't overheard.

Ginny had found Hermione studying in the library at the end of her class, and after the redhead had thrown some ideas of potential dates she was contemplating on asking, Hermione had let slip this piece of information and it had thrown everything completely from Ginny's mind.

'That must have taken a lot of courage,' Ginny admitted, staring into space for a moment, 'and what did you tell him?'

'What else could I tell him?' Hermione asked her, 'I said I had already been asked, and I didn't tell him who,' she added, as Ginny had opened her mouth to question her, 'poor Neville, he seemed a little disappointed, I feel so bad.'

'He'll be fine,' Ginny told her, at least she hoped he would be.

'Anyway, I'm sorry, back to what you were saying,' Hermione said suddenly, closing her book, 'who was it I'm suppose to know about whether they have a date yet or not?'

'Umm...' Ginny consulted her list, 'Ernie MacMillan and Justin Filch-Fletchley?'

Hermione blinked at her. 'You're seriously considering those two?' she asked her friend seriously.

'I'm just eliminating every possibility,' Ginny told her with a shrug.

Hermione eyed her but didn't debate with her any further. 'Those two hang out a lot with Hannah Abbott, maybe one of them are going with her? I don't know-'

'Nah, Dean Thomas is going with Hannah,' Ginny pointed out, and Hermione raised her eyebrows in surprise.

'Well then, I have no idea,' Hermione said truthfully.

'Gee, I thought you would be more help, 'Mione,' Ginny said coolly, and when her friend clicked her tongue Ginny immediately retracted, 'I'm sorry, I'm just getting a little desperate.'

'It's fine,' Hermione told her, 'you should just understand that I don't exactly appeal to gossip around here, you'd probably be better off asking Lavender or Parvati.'

Ginny contemplated this for a moment. 'Hmm, maybe,' she said, 'I don't know them as well.'

'Also you should just go and ask Harry already,' Hermione always seemed to make a point of saying this now whenever it was just the two of them alone.

'You know I don't have the guts for that,' Ginny kept saying in return, 'if you would just-'

'I'm not asking for you,' Hermione reassured her.

'Fine,' Ginny barked, and she folded up her large flow-chart and put it away.

'I might just go ahead and try to find out on my own about Ernie and Justin,' Ginny went on, as Hermione buried her face back into her book, 'but that's for tomorrow, they are probably back in their common room by now. You coming?'

Ginny was getting up, but Hermione was still seated when she looked up from her book and to her friend.

'Not yet,' Hermione told her, quickly returning to her book.

'Library is closing soon,' Ginny pointed out.

Hermione and Ginny looked over at the front where Madam Prince was sitting, glaring at them for touching her precious books. When she spotted them looking, her eyes popped and she returned her gaze to her desk (but kept giving them small glances).

'She can wait,' Hermione told Ginny, who shrugged and left the library as Hermione disappeared back behind her book.


	4. Chapter 4

04

Neville felt a little silly in the aftermath of asking Hermione to the Yule Ball, he realised straight away that there would have never been a chance of her saying yes, she is practically the complete opposite to him - reasonably good-looking, intelligent, popular, and she did not become a basket-case the moment she was in the presence of Professor Snape. And more to the point, he should have guessed that someone else by now, with much better looks and much more confidence, would have asked her.

The most embarrassing thing about it though, was that the two of them had to walk to class together immediately afterwards - Neville had attempted to stay silent and ignore the elephant in the room the entire way, whilst Hermione had kept apologising to him (in order to try and make him feel better) and said she was sure he'd managed no problem to get someone to go with him.

He was not as confident.

He made a point to sit as far away from Hermione as possible in Charms class, placing himself at the front whilst Hermione joined Harry and Ron in the back. He was sure that he would not be able to concentrate one bit for the lesson, but luckily enough for him it turned out that Professor Flitwick had decided not to bother with teaching them any new spells, when all of their minds were clearly elsewhere with Christmas approaching.

Therefore he just sat and listened to Dean and Seamus talk about Viktor Krum's performance in the Quidditch World Cup, and watched them play a game of Exploding Snap. Neville could see out of the corner of his eye, Hermione watching him - but she thankfully did not come over, nor make any motion toward him in any way.

Neville was the only one who was ready to bolt when the bell rang for the end of class, and he was out the door and half-way up the staircase outside before anyone else really moved. He tried to put as much distance between himself and Hermione, hoping not to get another apology - but his pudginess was his own enemy, and by the time he got to the Portrait hole, he was far too out of breath to even utter the password.

This meant that Hermione was able to catch up with him relatively easily.

'Neville?' Hermione asked carefully, 'are you OK?'

Neville turned to face her. 'Fine thanks,' he said with the only breath he had left.

'Are you sure?' she asked with a look of concern, 'oh I hope I haven't hurt your feelings, I really didn't mean too.'

There was a pause in which Neville took to stare into space to gather his breath.

'Hermione, it's fine,' Neville told her eventually, 'I should have figured you were already going with someone, you really don't have to keep apologising.'

Hermione looked at him nervously - she would have done so again, if not for the fact that students began to arrive in the corridor behind them and were heading to Gyrffindor tower like them.

'Well, so long as you're sure,' Hermione told him, smiling and patting him on the shoulder.

Neville nodded and Hermione turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady. 'Balderdash.'

The portrait swung open and Neville and Hermione climbed through before a conga line began to form up for the entrance. Hermione watched on as Neville cross the length of the common room, and disappeared up to his dormitory, where he threw his bag at the foot of his four-poster and he undid his tie and chucked it aimlessly onto his bedside table.

Then, after pausing for a single moment, he unceremoniously fell face first down onto the bed and groaned. He usually encountered a daily dose of embarrassment, but just this little bit more made him feel a tad worse. He wanted to just lie there, forever, and forget about the stupid things in life like school, girls and the Yule Ball.

However, much to his dismay, the door to the dormitory opened, and a couple of his fellow fourth-years entered and were chatting merely. At first, he stayed still and hoped they did not notice him - but when their voices lowered he realised they must of spotted him and he turned over and sat upright.

'You alright mate?' Seamus asked him, moving around the central-placed stove to Neville's four-poster.

'We keep telling you not to let Snape get to you,' Dean told him, joining Seamus, 'he's a stupid git to all of us, just forget him.'

'It's not about Professor Snape,' Neville told them, making them look sideways at one another, 'well, not entirely anyway. Look, I'm fine, just need to be on my own for a little bit.'

Dean nodded understandably, and wandered back over to his four-poster, but Seamus stayed rooted to the spot and was glaring suspiciously at Neville.

'Wait a minute,' he said, making both Neville and Dean look up, 'I know what this is about.'

Neville felt himself started to sweat, as Seamus took another step closer.

'This is about a girl, isn't it?' he said, pointing a judgemental finger at him, 'I would know that look anywhere!'

Neville stared at him.

'Isn't it?' Seamus repeated, nodding.

Dean was looking on apprehensively, he wasn't sure if he wanted to comment or not.

'Did you ask someone to the dance, Neville?' Seamus questioned him.

'Seamus-' Dean began to say, but Seamus wasn't listening.

'Who did you ask?' Seamus said excitedly, 'is it someone we know?'

'Maybe he doesn't want to talk about it?' Dean was trying to tell his friend.

'Nonsense,' Seamus waved away that possibility, 'come on buddy, we won't laugh, we promised. Now tell us, who was it?'

Neville looked from Seamus, to Dean (who shrugged) and back to Seamus again. He did not want to mention Hermione's name at all, but he also did not want them to keep asking questions.

'It is a girl,' Neville said eventually, making Seamus look satisfied, 'but you wouldn't know her. It was one of the Beauxbaton girls.'

'Good on you, Neville,' Dean said nicely with a smile.

'Well not really, she said no,' Seamus pointed out to Dean, who glared at him, 'but come on, we need details - what she looks like, and her name?'

Neville suddenly found himself to be able to lie very quickly and very easily, so much so that a face, some features, a complete figure and a name began to appear in front of his eyes, so he could describe her in full detail to them.

'She sounds hot,' Seamus said happily, 'I'm sorry she said no, mate.'

'Valerie?' Dean repeated, once Neville had come up with the name. 'How did you come to meet this girl?'

Neville shrugged. 'I'm not quite sure what I was thinking,' he said with the sound of truth in his voice, 'she dropped something, a book or her bag I forget what it was now - I picked it up for her and, when she thanked me, it kind of just came out.

'She was nice about it though,' Neville made sure to point out, when Dean and Seamus looked at one another with concern, 'she said I was sweet for asking, but she was going with someone else, and she was sorry.'

'Lucky bloke whoever that is,' Seamus said with a nod of his head.

'You shouldn't worry about it,' Dean tried to tell Neville, 'you will get someone, I'm sure of it.'

Neville forced a smile, but he did not notice Seamus' shrug of doubt at Dean's words.

'Have you thought about what I suggested last week?' Dean went on, making Neville think, 'asking someone in the year levels below us? I'm sure there are some girls that still want to go, who don't have a partner.'

Neville sighed depressingly.

He just knew that was going to end up being the case for him, a last minute date for some random student two years younger than him, who puts up going with him just so they can attend the dance. Dean and Seamus were really good about it though, they seemed to understand that Neville wanted to stop talking about it, and so instead they went back onto what had been their favourite subject since the start of term: Viktor Krum.

* * *

The next day, Neville found it overwhelming just how many girls there suddenly were at Hogwarts - along every hallway, in every courtyard and outside every classroom.

The most intimidating thing about trying to ask even just one of them was, about ninety percent of them would take one look at him, scowl in horror and turn away so as not to look at him. He knew all girls weren't like that of course, most of the ones in his year knew him well enough and didn't go scowling at him or telling him to get lost if he looked at them (with the exception of the Slytherin females), all he had to do was find a girl like the Beauxbaton he made up for the benefit of Dean and Seamus.

They spent the majority of the day along side of him, scoping out the potential desperate ones together - if the girls were going to travel in packs, then why shouldn't they?

Though he appreciated the support, Neville could have done without Seamus' running commentary on all the girls that he would like to see out of their Dress Robes as they went. Dean tried to shut him up, but gave up, and focussed on pointing out the girls to Neville that he knew were below their year level, and may still be without dates.

At some point, they spotted Ginny Weasley walking along a courtyard on her own, her books clutched to her chest, she appeared to be in deep thought and she did not spot them in her peripheral vision.

'You could always try and ask Ginny to the dance, you know her at least,' Dean said with a shrug, as they watched her disappear into the crowd, 'but I'm pretty sure she told us she had a date already, didn't she Seamus?'

'Huh?'

Seamus had been too busy goggling at a group of Beauxbaton's nearest them to hear what Dean had said.

'Never mind,' Dean said with an exasperated sigh, 'well I am at least sure she told us she had a date, but you could try - however I highly doubt someone like her would still be without one at this point.'

'Ginny is pretty popular,' Neville agreed.

'We should probably get to class,' Dean said, forcing a groan out of Seamus.

They all knew that, unlike Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall would never stop teaching to let them play games in her class, she had always kept them working right up to the last day of the term.

As they stomped off miserably to class, Neville's thoughts rolled back over onto Ginny, who he had immediately determined as an unaskable. He suddenly figured to himself that, even in the event of her having already been accounted for, there was no harm in asking her. She, like Hermione, had always been very nice to him, always stood up for him against bullies like Draco Malfoy and she had never curled up her nose at him when he had approached her.

They seemed like pretty good attributes to him.

And in the event that it actually does turn out to be that she is already going with someone, he figured that she might at least know someone who was yet to have a partner to the dance and she could introduce him.

But honestly, he thought to himself, who could possibly be desperate enough to be seen on his arm, just to attend a silly dance?


	5. Chapter 5

05

It was out of sheer luck that Ginny found out that both Ernie MacMillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley had secured dates for the Yule Ball, mere hours before she had been preparing herself to approach them and spark a conversation. She had been wandering past a group of giggling Beauxbaton girls speaking in quick and fluent French, when suddenly two English words had caught her attention: Ernie and Justin.

She made a note to follow them, and sure enough, they lead her straight to the Entrance hall where the two Hufflepuff's were waiting expectantly for them. This was a relief - she had always felt uncomfortable around those two, for reasons she could not fathom - but it meant she could move on and attempt to find someone else.

In an attempt to cover the fact that she had been following them, Ginny darted around the group and cut through a shortcut that took her out into the Transfiguration courtyard, where she would be able double-back and head upstairs to where she was meant to be, the Divination tower. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dean, Seamus and Neville staring at some nearby groups of girls - in order to avoid them and make her time on class, she put her head down, clutched her books to her chest and crossed to the other side of the courtyard.

Her thoughts began to wander as he feet took hold of her (they knew where they were going), and she began to think of who was left for her to ask? Perhaps a Ravenclaw, maybe, but she didn't think many of them were that good looking - with the exception of one in particular who was tall and of dark skin, and kind of handsome.

But alas, she already knew for a fact, that he was spoken for.

She had summoned up the courage to chat with him briefly in passing, on the day the school had found out about the Yule Ball, and he had told her that he was extremely excited about going to it, and so was his girlfriend.

Ginny hadn't bothered starting up any more conversations with him since.

She supposed she could ask a random boy from Durmstrang - they weren't all famous like Krum, but some of them were just as damn ugly. It was here that she remembered that Hermione was going with Krum, and that she would be careful from now on about saying that fact out loud, at least whilst she was in the vicinity.

There had been a few Durmstrang students she had seen though who weren't complete trolls, and she had on occasion caught herself performing a double-take when a couple of them were walking past. The problem there was, they were all several years older than her, not just one or two, and it didn't matter even if they were able to make her weak at the knees just by looking at her, she was sure they could land someone far older and far better looking.

Then there were the Slytherin's: she would sooner die a horribly slow death than before she would attend the ball with one of those slimy gits.

And finally, she came back to her constant... Harry Potter.

Well there was definitely no way she would ever be able to pluck up the courage and ask him, she knew that for sure - she struggles in her attempts to ask him far simpler, less invasive questions, let alone something so big and important as a date. And she knew very well that he would not ask her, for she had come to the conclusion that in his eyes, she was just Ron's sister who turns up every second chapter or so in a book that's all about him.

Before she knew it, her contemplation had to stop. She found herself hit with a sudden aroma, and somehow her subconsciousness had managed to get to the point where she was now ascending the ladder to Divination tower. Unfortunately for her, past experience proved it near impossible to think straight in this room, is was so hot, stuffy and filled with such disgusting perfume, that it oddly put her into a sort of trance rather than sleep.

Still, she didn't mind too much - in her year level, the Gryffindor's shared Divination class with Ravenclaw, so she usually sat besides Luna "Loony" Lovegood for the duration of the class.

'Hello Luna,' Ginny said as usual as she took her seat.

'Hullo there,' Luna greeted, she had been absent-mindedly fingering her cork-necklace, and looked about as contemplative as Ginny felt.

'Do you have a date for the Yule Ball yet?' Ginny questioned her, and Luna gave Ginny an almost empty look with those protuberant eyes and smiled.

'The what?' she asked, bewilderedly.

Ginny suppressed a giggle.

'The Yule Ball, remember?' Ginny asked. 'The dance on Christmas day?'

'I daresay I will be going home for Christmas,' Luna informed her, before turning back to face the front.

Ginny rolled her eyes and prepared herself instead for the lesson, rather than continuing a conversation.

* * *

Once she was well clear of the aroma of Divination, she was able to think properly again and did so quite intently on her way to Transfiguration. She past a couple of Durmstrang boys she thought she might fancy along the way, but she only treaded at a distance to suss them out and take notes, she was certainly not ready to ask them out.

Despite managing to stare at them for a few minutes whilst at a distance, a couple of them started to notice her staring and stared back, this forced her to move on pretty quickly without looking back.

When she found herself in the Transfiguration courtyard again, she made her way over to the large single tree to lean against and watch the traffic go by her until the bell rang. There were a few more groups of Durmstrang students, but nothing much to write home about - she sighed to herself and continued to look around, when a few familiar faces began to wander out from one of the archways and make their way across the courtyard.

She felt herself go red in the face when she saw Harry Potter emerge, accompanied by Ron and Hermione of course.

This might have been the perfect opportunity for her to strike and just ask him, but she knew she would only hesitate - the courtyard was crowded, there would be too much of an audience - and not to mention the fact that she would have trouble in getting Ron out of earshot (though she would at least hope that Hermione might help her with that).

But she didn't move an inch.

Harry and Ron didn't even see her in any case, they just kept on walking - Hermione looked back at her with a little smile and wave, in which Ginny returned, but she didn't remonstrate with her to make a move or anything, and Ginny was thankful.

'Hi there.'

Ginny was so taken-aback by someone suddenly being beside her, that her hand slipped off of the tree and she almost fell over. But it was Neville Longbottom who had frightened her, and it was also he that caught her, unfortunately his fumbling hands meant that it was her chest that he caught and she was not expecting it to come.

'Ouch!' she said loudly as she regathered her balance, her outcry caused several people nearby to look around in alarm.

'Sorry!' Neville said sincerely, looking absolutely terrified at what he had done, so much so that he stepped back from her as she clutched at her chest. 'I'm so sorry! I didn't mean-'

'It's OK Neville,' Ginny said, putting one of her hands up as the other rubbed her sore spot, 'just don't sneak up on me like that...'

'I know, I shouldn't have,' Neville agreed, nodding and continuing to apologise, 'I won't do it again, really, I'm very sorry.'

'And will you stop apologising?' Ginny hissed at him through gritted teeth, some people were still staring as they walked past, but most of the traffic had moved on.

'Alright,' Neville said, shutting his mouth and standing completely still, his face pink with embarrassment.

Ginny looked at him up and down expectantly, waiting for him to say something.

'Was there anything I can help you with?' Ginny eventually asked, the pain in her chest was subsiding.

'OH, right,' Neville looked around carefully - they were pretty much out of earshot of any more passers-by's, and the only ones who were still looking at them were Dean and Seamus on the other side of the courtyard. 'I wanted to ask you something.'

'Sure. Just hurry it up though,' Ginny told him, as the bell for the start of next class rang out across the courtyard, and very suddenly they were the only ones left.

'Well, OK, well, you see,' Neville shuffled his feet and stared at the ground, 'I was wondering if... you know, if you'd... well you see-'

'Neville,' Ginny said slowly, her eyebrows raised, 'spit it out will you?'

'You've always been nice to me,' Neville told her, his feet kept shuffling nervously, 'you always have. You never mock me, and you never just walk away from me like a lot of other people, and the thing I appreciate the most, is that you know how to handle the Slytherin's if you see them making fun.'

Ginny suddenly felt a warmth of appreciation towards Neville run through her, so suddenly in fact that all pain in chest was gone.

'Of course I do,' Ginny said to him, 'they deserve what they get.'

'You remember the time you hexed Pansy Parkinson?' Neville asked, attempting to elongate the conversation in order to prepare himself for the inevitable let down of asking her the ultimate question. 'I forget what the hex was called though-'

'Neville,' Ginny started to say, sounding amused at this point - she knew what was coming now.

'Bat-Bloody Hex or Bat-Berry Hex?' Neville said, scratching his head, 'no, Bat-Bountiful Hex? It was something Bat...'

'Bat-Bogey Hex,' Ginny told him, nodding, and Neville's eyes lit up at this.

'That's it!' he said, beginning to laugh, 'I still get hairs on the back of my neck when I remember her screaming in terror at that.'

'Well I'm glad,' Ginny said in amusement, folding her arms, 'weren't you going somewhere with this?'

'Huh? Oh, right, yeah,' Neville looked at her, and took a deep breath, 'I was just wondering... have you got a date yet for the Yule Ball?'

Ginny smirked at him and looked him up and down.

She could have said yes, in hindsight, but with the moment that Neville created between them, she was actually glad that she didn't have a partner yet. Harry Potter ignored her, Dean and Seamus both assumed she was too good for them, all the other good looking male students were spoken for and the rest of the boys at Hogwarts were far more useless and blind than Neville appeared to be.

So, after her mind took a few minutes to debate the situation, mixed with relief that perhaps finally her struggle to find a date was over, Ginny took a deep breath and stepped forward to close the gap between her and Neville.

'No, Mr Longbottom,' she said with a grin, 'I do not yet have a date to the Yule Ball.'

Neville's eyes widened in disbelief.

'Really? You don't?' he asked again, he ought to make sure he heard right after all.

'Sure don't,' Ginny said, 'why, do you?'

'No,' Neville said, though of course that much was obvious.

'Why don't you ask me then?' Ginny winked at him, still smiling.

The smile that appeared on Nevillle's face was priceless. That quickly turned into horror, as realisation hit on what the rest of the school might think when Ginny showed up on Neville Longbottom's arm.

'But the rest of the school-' Neville began to say nervously, sweating slightly.

'Can go jump in the lake for all I care,' Ginny spat in frustration, 'you are the first boy in the entire school to even consider me, so I think you can guess what my answer will be, considering the time we have left.'

'Alright,' Neville said, preparing himself one more time, 'Ginny Weasley?'

'Mhmm?' she happily questioned him.

'Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?' he said finally. 'You know, as friends?'

Ginny leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. 'As friends.'


	6. Chapter 6

06

'You're going with Neville?'

'Yes. We're just going as friends, Hermione, is that so hard to comprehend?'

It was the evening before the last day of classes before the Christmas break, Ginny had whisked Hermione away from the Gryffindor common room and the prying ears of Harry and Ron, to tell her that FINALLY, she'd managed to land a date. They were walking the practically deserted corridors of the castle, as most of its inhabitants were back in their respected common rooms, with the fact that the curfew of nine o-clock was close approaching.

'Well,' Hermione attempted to sound sincere, rather than stuck up, 'I thought maybe you would be able to get someone a little more...'

'Thin?' Ginny questioned.

'No!' Hermione said in alarm, 'that's not fair, I'm happy for Neville that he found someone, but don't you agree that, possibly, you could have maybe got-'

'Someone a little more intelligent?' Ginny was beginning to snap at her in annoyance now.

'Ginny, no, I wasn't going to say any of that,' she retorted, feeling hard done by.

'I suppose I should have landed a Quidditch Champion, like you?' Ginny continued to say, her eyebrows were narrowed now.

'OK stop,' Hermione said loudly, stopping in her tracks and putting a foot down, 'all I meant to say is, you could have in all this time, bitten your pride and asked Harry Potter to the damned ball! Like you kept saying you wanted too!'

Hermione was glaring at Ginny, and for the first time, she didn't have a witty reply to this.

'I care for Neville,' Hermione continued to say to her, 'he's sweet, and of course very nice, and I'm over the moon that you said yes to him after my hand was forced to decline his offer. I just thought, because you kept mentioning Harry non-stop every time we talked, that you would eventually just _ask_ him.'

Ginny opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out, so she closed it.

'Now please, I don't want to fight with you,' Hermione told her, taking deep breaths, 'and I'm very sorry if it sounded like I was judging you and Neville, just because I'm going with...' Hermione looked around and lowered her voice, 'Viktor.'

Ginny nodded, but Hermione kept talking.

'And I just want to say again, so we are understood,' Hermione said carefully, 'I never for a moment thought as Neville to be any of those things.'

'No, of course, neither do I,' Ginny agreed, she appeared to be shaking a little, 'it was my fault, I'm sorry I snapped at you, you didn't deserve it. Neville was just so nice to me today, I felt like standing up for him, because he's the only boy in the school with the courage to actually ask me to this stupid dance.'

Hermione smiled and nodded.

'It's very sweet,' she said finally, before checking her watch, 'now come on, let's head back to the common room before were caught being out after curfew..'

Ginny agreed and followed her friend back to Gryffindor tower.

* * *

Neville was the happiest he had been for as long as he could remember - all the extra stress that had been on him to get a date for the highly anticipated Yule Ball was suddenly released, and all he had to worry about now was one more day of classes, and a double dose of Potions. Professor Snape had purposely prepared a lesson on poison antidotes for the last class, after he had heard about their fun and games in other classes, he was not going to allow them to mess about in his class.

Not that he really cared, but Neville figured he would end up failing at an antidote, but not even getting a dose of deadly poison could darkened his spirits.

After dinner he practically skipped back to Gryffindor tower and up to his dormitory, where he threw his bag at the foot of his four-poster and pulled out a piece of parchment on which he began to write a long and descriptive letter of joy to his grandmother. He was interrupted in the middle of it, however, by the arrival of Dean and Seamus, who both appeared to be looking for him.

'Well?' they both said in unison, once they spotted him on his four-poster writing and he looked up at them.

'What?' Neville asked curiously, eyebrows raised.

'Did you ask her?' Seamus practically yelled at him.

'Who?' Neville was playing dumb now.

'You know ruddy well who,' said Seamus, sounding short tempered.

'Oh, you mean Ginny?' Neville asked with the straightest face he could possibly muster.

They both stared at him expectantly for a few moments, before Seamus was unable to bare it any longer and spat, 'well?'

'She said yes,' Neville said with the biggest grin on his face.

'Aha!' they were both elated, and Seamus literally bounded forward and punched him in the arm, 'you lucky codger you.'

'Ouch,' Neville said, wincing as he rubbed his arm, 'was that really necessary?'

'You're too right it was,' Seamus said with a laugh, as he threw his bag onto his four-poster and did a little jig.

'Really please for you, Neville,' Dean said with some civility, 'you'll have a good evening, now.'

Neville nodded with a shrug, as Seamus continued to dance.

'I appreciate that you're both happy for me, but,' Neville's eyebrows rose slightly in bemusement at Seamus' dance, 'you two don't have to be so patronizing.'

'But we're your buddy, buddy,' Seamus explained, finally stopping his dance and leaning against Neville's four-poster, 'besides, you now officially have the second hottest date out of the three of us for the ball-'

'Excuse me?' Dean questioned his friend, who looked around curiously.

'Don't fret, Deano,' Seamus winked, 'Hannah is cool an everything, but she isn't as good looking as Lavender Brown.'

'Hannah has a very nice posture, thank you,' Dean pointed out.

'Yeah, but you've watched Lavender walk away from you, right?' Seamus said coolly, 'I think it's safe to say-'

'Hannah looks nice when she walks away, too,' Dean said angrily to his friend.

'Well,' Seamus shrugged and put his hands in his pockets, 'I can't disagree with that.'

There was a pause as Dean digested these words.

'Wait, what does that mean?' he snapped angrily.

As Seamus and Dean continued to fight about their dates, Neville leaned back against his pillows with a smile and continued to write to his grandmother. He hoped she was happy for him, his family hadn't had very much to smile about for a long time and she had only ever been proud of him a handful of times.

Surely, landing a pretty date for the Yule Ball could be one of those times.

* * *

The reality of the next day being the last day of school before Christmas was made all the more apparent by the sudden arrival of decorations filling the castle. In the continued effort of impressing the visitors from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, Hogwarts looked the best it ever had in the time that Neville had attended there.

It basically looked as if a bomb filled with Christmas decorations had gone off in the Entrance Hall.

There was tinsel of all sizes lined throughout the hallways, draped over the singing suits of armour, producing from inside of expensive vases, hanging out of opened windows, entwined across archways and outside bridges, scattered carelessly over thresholds and rugs and most humorously of all, attached indefinitely to the souls of several unlucky first-year students footwear, who were the victims of the annual Permanent Sticky Charm skit instigated by seventh-year Slytherin's every year.

Along with that, mistletoe was hung in random places, in which locations could usually be found by a bunch of waiting yet giggling teenage girls picking out boys walking past - Neville of course was not picked.

The usual twelve Christmas trees had been put up and decorated along the line of the Great Hall, there were all sorts of festive ornaments of every shape and size scattered rather aimlessly throughout the hall, some were merely hanging off of random objects here and there, others hung from the trees.

Peeves the Poltergeist was taking it upon himself to gather as many of these ornaments up as he could to use them as projectiles for unsuspecting students below. Along the way to his seat at the Gryffindor table, Neville received a three-inch Santa Claus ornament right between the eyes, causing Peeves to cackle madly at his expense.

His antics went on for quite some time during breakfast, until it came to the point where he started choking a first-year student with tinsel and forcing Professor McGonagall to drive him from the hall (still cackling madly by the way) with her booming voice.

Despite the eventful breakfast, the rest of the day went without any incident - he had a couple of easy classes up first and then the dreaded double Potions in the afternoon. Neville feared that he had not spent enough time studying antidotes, but as it turned out, as far as Neville was concerned, he didn't do too badly - he still got a reasonably low mark, but at least he left the last class for the day with his head held high.

He had regrettably not seen Ginny all day, and he thought it might be a blessing for now, as they had parted in somewhat awkward circumstances yesterday after she had accepted his request to attend the Yule Ball.

All three meal times he did not spot her, nor did he see any form of red hair when he returned to the common room that night (although he was quite pleased that Fred and George weren't attempting to shove new Weasley Wizard Wheeze products down his throat). He ascended the staircase to the boys dormitory with the idea of writing some more to his grandmother, and then sleeping until late in the morning.


End file.
